ForkLift 2.04

Use this Finder replacement tool on your Mac to handle your files more effectively

By Chris Wiles | Dec 15, 2010

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If you work with lots of files, then you’ll soon find that the Mac Finder can be rather limiting. You’ve got to have one window open per folder, it doesn’t always remember the original folder when you close the Finder window and you have to juggle different windows to move around files.

On the Windows platform, there are a few Explorer replacement tools. One of the better apps is the long-standing Directory Opus. It has a high learning curve, but it’s the flexibility that wins over fans. Go back to the standard Explorer and you’re lost with the simplicity. For Mac users, Forklift is a similar example. The key difference between Directory Opus and Forklift is that Opus replaces the entire Explorer. Double-click on the desktop and an Opus window opens instead of an Explorer window. Forklift doesn’t sit that deep in to the operating system, so you have to click on the application icon to open a Forklift window.

That aside, Forklift is an excellent improved version of Finder. You can open a dual-window, select the folders you want to manage, then copy files from pane to pane. You can even open a tabbed window, so you can handle multiple folders or destinations for the same files.

Forklift does a lot more than just give you an improved Finder. You can handle all your file archives, so you can create, open and extract files from just about any archive. It acts as an FTP client, enabling you to upload or download files from a remote host. It supports just about every FTP format, too, so you can even upload files to your Amazon S3 account.

There are many other smaller features, too. For example, you can make sure files and folders are synchronised between source and destination, which is handy if you don’t want to figure which files you’ve uploaded to a remote server.

Verdict

Excellent Mac-based Finder replacement that will enable you to do more with your files and folders